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European spacecraft captures images of giant asteroid

The European spacecraft Rosetta has performed a fly-by of a massive asteroid hurtling through the solar system.

Rosetta took a series of photos as the giant rock, which measures 134 km in diameter, approached it, passing within 3200 kms.

Scientists are now analysing the photographs in an effort to understand more about asteroids. The information they gather could one day help the Earth defend itself from destruction.

Lutetia orbits in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, some half a million kilometres from Earth.

The giant rock is scarred with craters from collisions with smaller asteroids.

In this image, Lutetia is seen with the ringed planet Saturn in the background. Rosetta will continue on its mission to meet up with a distant comet in 2014. It has been described as one of the most ambitious space exploration projects to date.